>> bret: historic hurricane sandy bears down on the atlantic coast. will it wreak havoc on the presidential campaigns? this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. we're a dozen years in the millennium, but what could be the storm of the century on the atlantic coast is expected to make landfall any moment now. closing in on the most populated part of the u.s. states of emergency declared in eight states and here in the district of columbia. limited state of emergency in three other states. that covers a quarter of the national population.

about 80 million people. all of this comes as election day closes in for one of the most bitter an competitive presidential races ever. we will have complete coverages of -- coverage of both stories and how they intersect. first, hurricane sandy. we have team fox coverage. meteorologist janice dean will tell us where the storm is heading. as far as where it is right now, we have reporters on the ground throughout the region. jonathan shunt in long island. on long island new york. doug mckelway is in delaware. we begin with rick leventhal at point pleasant beach, new jersey. good evening, rick. >> bret, the wind is ridiculous at this hour. at #:00, i clock wind gust at 57 miles per hour. it feels like it's 70 to 80 now. i'm hanging on the rail or i probably, well, you can see the street. the ocean is merging with the ocean avenue. if you look to the left, not sure if you can tell how

ferocious the winds are. they're in the 12 to 15 to 20-foot range. at times curling and crashing over the dunes to bring water to point pleasant. this town was evacuated yesterday. most of the residents heeded warnings. all of the beach communities up and down the new jersey shore were evacuated. some people chose not to leave. that included atlantic city, new jersey, where a section of the boardwalk washed away. emergency workers were rescuing some residents with light boats and -- lifeboats and high water vehicles throughout the day. at this point, the governor told people if you are still home, don't try to get out. hunker dune try to ride the storm out. the storm surge could be tight 12 feet. the winds are at their peak of the day. right now, for more on the storm, we are going to doug mckelway in delaware. >> thank you. two major developments this

afternoon, served to basically isolate the community and others along the peninsula. earlier in afternoon, the storm breached the dunes south of here, effectively meeting with the back bay, shutting down the main coastal route. route 1. bethany beach is closed. they remain closed for some days to come. in addition to that, the chesapeake bay bridge that links baltimore and washington to the eastern shore of delaware, maryland and virginia has always been shut down. because of high wind warnings. the good news is the wind shifted dramatically. blowing from the north/northeast for the past 24 hours. in the past few hours it's shifted to the west. the high tide we expect here tonight at 8:10 and storm surge associated with that will likely get pushed back to sea. we may be dodging a bullet here, bret. we'll see.

when the high tide arrives. back to you. >> bret: doug, thank you. the storm is making landfall as we speak. that is breaking news right now. millions of americans, and people who work in manhattan live on or around long island. correspondent jonathan hunt is on long beach tonight. jonathan, the storm is making landfall right now. send it over to you. >> bret, as the storm makes landfall, we are on the northern edge of the hurricane, as it comes ashore. northern edge means you are at the most risk from the storm surge. you can see out here, the waves behind me have been whipping up all day. we have been getting them 12, 15 feet. the water is coming underneath this the famous long beach boardwalk. this is what everybody feared. i can tell you, i was here 14 months ago, bret, when hurricane irene came through and the flooding that i've

seen down to my left here, going out underneath the boardwalk, out on the streets where all the homes are on long beach is already much, much worse than irene. further left, because of the conditions here and the camera angle, you can't see it. but there is a lifeguard station that last year 14 months ago in irene was swept off its foundation. it's done it again. the authorities have been appealing to people all day to get out. get out of long beach a get across the bridge. >> bret: stay safe. we will head further south and correspondent steve harrigan is in ocean city, maryland. good evening, steve. >> good evening, bret. hurricane force winds here cracking over the seawall. 15 to 20-foot waves.

part of the pier has been destroyed by the waves. the governor making a forceful statement saying stay in your house. this storm is going to kill people. we want to limit the loss of life. stay in the house. as many as 30,000 people now without power. as the conditions are likely to continue to get worse throughout the night. bret, back to you. >> bret: steve, we will monitor that as well in maryland. ominous sight in manhattan tonight. a crane working on a 65-story building under construction is now crippled, hovering over times scare. you can see it. officials ordered the evacuation of upper floors and buildings near the crane. streets have been cleared and closed off. the winds pick up there. hms bounty sank off the north carolina outer banks and two helicopters picked up the crew members around 6:30. amazing video. 90 miles southeast of cape hatteis. they are essentialing for two

other people. it's replica of the original bounty. good luck getting a flight in or out of the east coast. this is what it look like at reagan national airport in washington. 10,000 flights are grounded in the northeast. the ripple effect felt all over the world. we know where sandy is right now. again, making landfall. now figure out where she is going. meteorologist dean has that from new york. good evening. >> yes. bret, we are in the middle of landfall right now across new jersey. my best guess is ocean city, where we saw steve harrigan. we will wait for that update. probably coming in the next few minutes. they will issue official advisory at 7:00 p.m. show you where we think it's making landfall across southern new jersey. you can see the exposed center around atlantic city. we think landfall which is the lowest point, the lowest

pressure crossing over land. the effects, feeling the effects of the storm. well in advance of the storm system. north and southward. extending 1,000 miles really from the center of the storm. hurricane force winds close to 200-miles from the center of the storm. we expect the landfall within the next few minutes. official landfall, making landfall now. it will slow down. it has been moving rather quickly close to 28 miles per hour. moving to the northwest, that is why we have seen earlier landfall. but the storm surge, this is potentially deadly. areas across the long island sound. 6 to 11 feet with 20 to 30 waves on top of that. i want to read. this life threatening coastal flooding through tonight with the tide cycle. depending where you are. wind gusts anywhere from 70 to 90 miles per hour. for long island, connecticut and new york city. potentially, catastrophic storm system. unfortunately one we probably won't know the daniel of for

days, maybe even weeks ahead. back to you. >> bret: okay. keep it here on fox for the latest. we appreciate it. the major stock markets of course on wall street were closed today because of the storm. it's the first unplanned shutdown since 9/11. they will remained close tomorrow. is hurricane sandy affecting glow if you have a picture, send me a tweet. @bretbaier. vice president biden does it again later in grape. unwelcome time-out in presidential campaign, courtesy of hurricane sandy. as we head to break, a look at's city, maryland. again, it could be where this is coming across. as we speak. keep it here on "special report." [ female announcer ] beef, meet flavor boost. flavor boost, meet beef. it's swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth to add delicious flavor to your skillet dish in just one stir. mmm! [ female announcer ] cook, meet compliments. get recipes at flavorboost.com.

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>> bret: blustery and wet white house. hurricane sandy emptied out towns, businesses and transit systems and political rallies.

as the presidential campaign enter the home stretch with just eight days to go. the weathers forced dramatic change of plans. we have chief coverage. chief political correspondent carl cameron is with romney campaign in iowa. ed henry is not. with a look at how president obama is handling this emergency, much differently than the last. good evening, ed. >> the president took heat from how he reacted to benghazi. so they are struggling and scrambling to stay on top of the storm with the rain and wind whipping around in washington. aides say the president stuck here and off the campaign trail until wednesday. >> i just received a full briefing from energy response teams. >> the last time president obama faced a crisis, the terror attack in libya last month he went ahead with campaign events in nevada and colorado. given sandy's wrath closer to the election this time is

intent to look presidential. today he canceled series of campaign vents and convening a high-level conference call in white house situation room. >> this is going to be a big and powerful storm. all across the eastern seaboard, serve taking the appropriate preparations. >> except the president tried to get in one last campaign appearance. leighing washington late sunday to be in orlando this morning for the big roll-out of joint appearances with former president bill clinton. >> i was supposed to be the warmup man for president obama today. >> obama left early this morning and they believe the weather in washington detearateed so fast it would be difficult to land air force one later in the day. >> the early voters are already making decisions. you know what our decision is. what i want to do is make sure that everybody who agrees with us votes. >> key part of the obama

campaign strategy is early voting which could be effected in coastal battlegrounds. today, the virginia state board of elections urged localities to keep moving forward with in-person absentee voting unless the storm makes it unsafe. >> i am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. worry about the impact on families and the impact on our first responders. i'm worried about the impact on the economy. >> it could delay friday's release of new jobs report just four days before the election. >> labor department official later said it's our intention that friday will be busy as usual. regarding the october employment report. notice wiggle room with the "intention." unclear if they will open in a few days or all week closed. unclear. but any delay in jobs report close to the election would

cause an uproar. >> ed henry live at the white house. thank you. romney campaign is like much of the east. hunkering down politically tonight. riding out the storm. two political correspondent carl cameron has the latest. >> at an ohio rally, mitt romney wrapped up remarks to urging those able to help relief effort. >> on the eastern coast of the nation, a lot of people are enduring difficult times. the hearts and the prayers go to them. as we think how tough it will be there. the family in harm's way that will be hurt in the possessions or perhaps something more severe. >> romney canceled events over the weekend. tonight in wisconsin and tomorrow. >> this looks like another time when we need to come together. all across the country. in ohio, give of our support to people who need it. >> i am asking you to look for way to do that. >> they replaced online fundraising solicitation to

links to the red cross. romney has been in touch with chris christie of new jersey and bob mcdonnell of virginia. natural disasters spotlight and test the incumbent response. often overshadowing the political challengers. the latest gallup national tracking poll shows romney at 51% and president at 46. in ohio, which could decide the election, a new rasmussen tracking poll has romney ahead 50 to 48 in a buckeye state virtual tie yet there obama leads by two points in the real clear politics average of the recent ohio polls. romney went ahead with afternoon rally in iowa, but that is it for at least a day as the campaign takes a backseat to the storm. romney closing argument for final stretch is dubbed day one, job one, referring to the economy. he promises tax relief. north american energy independence. to repeal obamacare, block military cuts and balance the budget among other things. all of that is on hold.

romney tonight will spend overnight in dayton, ohio, returning there without planned or scheduled campaign events tomorrow. it will likely be relief oriented but not clear it will take place in iowa. if the storm passed enough and opportunity to take part in recovery and clean-up action. possible mr. romney would head for the seacoast. at this point, all carefully choreographed final stage craft in final day of the campaign have been dashed. 200 hours less, really, before the election. exactly a week from tomorrow. the romney campaign doesn't exactly know what it will be doing for the next 24 to 48 hours. >> bret: still question mar marks. >> very much so. >> bret: still ahead, more inconsistencies between what the obama administration knew and what it said about the libya terror attack. first, karl rove and joe trippi on who is ahead in the presidential voting and what really matters, the electoral college map. we do it every week. coming up. as we head to break, cape may,

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>> bret: we are now one week and one day from what could be one of the closest presidential elections in history. hard to believe we're that close. no matter how the popular vote goes, it's the electoral college that really decides the winner. as we have been saying from the beginning. let's find out as we do every week where that stands right now. joining me is karl rove, former bush senior advisor in austin, texas. joining me from washington, democratic strategist joe trippi. look at the map. you see the info on the key. red, romney. blue, obama. then pinkish is lean romney. light blue is lean obama.

the yellow states those are tossup states within the margin of error. reminder this is all based, this map you are looking at polls in the last two weeks. what has changed since last week. the last time we talked? >> first, we have now, record number of state level polls, 69 last week. 28 states. 12 states showed movement to romney and nine states toward obama. but only two states changed the status. one of the smallest numbers we've seen wince bebegan this in april. one not a surprise. tennessee state went from lean romney to solid romney. other is surprise. michigan, battleground state went from lean obama to tos tossup. that is a big shift of 18 electoral college votes. >> bret: of those, michigan a big -- >> michigan is a big, that is really going in tossup column,

it is according to the polls and it's a big move. that opens up a way for romney to get there. since august, it has been the same. two states that stand out to me are ohio and wisconsin. it's clear that romney has to win one of the states, i think, to have a path to the electoral map he needs for 270. >> bret: you have joe biden campaigning in places like pennsylvania as well. >> things are vibrating out there. romney clearly has closed the race. things have gotten closer. in the end, i don't think pennsylvania will come in. if it does it's a bigger win than people think. pennsylvania is -- if you see

that going off the map, that is a big, big romney win. >> bret: let me say one thing about that. >> pennsylvania and michigan are also going to be the site of third party television ads. group i'm associated with is joining in the barrage. multimillion dollars. question is whether the obama campaign thinks the states are solidly michigan and pennsylvania in their camp they don't to respond with the tv ads or they respond. the states are there. owe is right. this map is remarkably stable. the number have changed but states in play are the same. the numbers change. we have 184 electoral college votes in the obama column. 37 lean obama for 2 221. 180 in romney, 26 lean romney for 206. this will be a close election. it will center on the nine states with 111 electoral college votes. a path for the victory for both candidates there. if you have the momentum, we saw the poll over the weekend in ohio. the showing of the newspaper association poll showing a

dead even race in ohio. five points for obama. when they last tested here a number of weeks ago. shows momentum on romney side. the question is does he have momentum to push him perhaps 270. >> bret: quick answer of impact of the storm, hurricane sandy and what it means for the race? >> could it mean -- i think it's freezing the race. it's hard for either romney or obama to break through with new, with some new initiative while everybody is focused on sandy. i don't think it affects the turnout. >> bret: karl? >> it could effect turn-out. people affected by this; particularly, people unable to cope with it might be less likely to turn out. let's see when the storm hits. when it passes. if people can put themselves back together. the other thing is it will push the campaigning further west. we will see more appearances in iowa, colorado, nevada, wisconsin, western ohio than we would have seen otherwise

in fewer appearances and florida. fewer appearances in places like virginia and pennsylvania. eastern ohio. >> bret: last thing, quickly. we had an ipad app that people can put in their maps. put them up against joe or carl. a place that may be affected is new york. this is from a class. explain this. >> well -- they have two states. two states talking about that are probably going to decide this thing. obama has to block one of those states if not both. this class had a distinction to having to write essay on the end of segment of what karl and i say here. i want to pick it out. not only are they smart, they have it down to the two states we need. >> bret: karl, last word on the class? >> thank goodness i didn't

take him. you have to write -- watch us first of all, every week and write about the three of us? i mean, this guy is a tough grateer. i need to visit this class in new york. >> i'm with you. >> bret: all right, joe, karl, here it is. next week the final predictions. get ready. thank you, gentlemen. next up, more coverage of the monster storm that is hitting the east coast. stay tuned. sure wish you guys would bring layaway back. actually... th way i could split my payments up into little bite-size chunks. i mean you feel me right? yeah. uh, sir... ah... [ male announcer ] shop now. and put it on layaway so you have more time to pay. walmart. campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >> announcer: meet jill. she thought she'd feel better after seeing her doctor.

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>> bret: more on hurricane sandy in a minute. picking from the political grapevine first. a rough few months for vice president joe biden who in august told virginia crowd together they could win north carolina. last week he mixed up ohio and iowa. the vice president was on the trail this weekend endorsing senate candidate tim kaine when his words got away from him again. >> it is good to be in a state that will represented by tim kaine. what a guy! [ applause ] there is a decent, honorable man. that man has more integrity in his little finger than most people have in their whole body. i am a big tim kaine fan. a big tim kaine fan. >> bret: governor tim kaine sinked him on twitter. thanks to the shout out today. i love jay biden. >> daily beast column sullivan

compared the romney supporters to the american south on abc "this week." if virginia and florida go back to the republicans it's the confederacy entirely. he put the map of the civil war over this electoral map. you've got the civil war. "washington post" columnist george will didn't let that comment sit. two possible explanations. a lot of white people who voted for obama in 2008 watched him govern for four years and said not so good. try someone else. the alternative, the confederacy hypothesis those people somehow for some reason in the last four years became racist. finally a sad and weird story. sherman helsley the star of "the jefferson" has yet to be laid to rest three months after his death. his body is in cold storage in texas awaiting result of a dna test. a man claiming to be the actor's brother is suing his manager and roommate who is the sole beneficiary of

hemley's will over the $50,00,00 estate. in the, will he referred to the woman as his beloved partner. hemsley said in media interviews he was an only child. updating the top story, earlier story rather the coast guard says it has found one of the two crew members missing from the hms bounty, which sank off the coast of north carolina about 13 hours ago. you treb video we showed you earlier. the other 14 crew on board were rescued this morning. by a pair of coast guard helicopters. the female crew member found short while ago is said unfortunately to be unresponsive. the search for the captain continues. america's largest city is in the path of what could be the strongest hurricane ever in that part of the country. new york and hurricane sandy are on a collision course. the storm made landfall a half hour ago in the show. coach dade lee miller is in lower manhattan tonight. good evening, david.

>> bret, we are in fact in battery park city. this is in lower manhattan, near the southern tip of the island. battery park city is built on the reclaimed land. some of it excavated from the original world trade center site. now battery park, city is in peril. talk a look at the walk-away, promenade. more than an hour ago you could walk here without getting your feet wet. now it's entirely covered with water, the water now lapping at the steps. as it appears to be making its way up to street level. battery park city. like much of the exterior portion of manhattan near the hudson and the east river is under mandatory evacuation. take a look at the apartment house across the street in battery park city. you see the lights are on. there are people here, at least more than 1,000 of them who decided they are going to remain. they say they are not going to

follow that mandatory evacuation order. any moment now, we expect the power to be turned off. that means people will not use elevators here. it means they will not be able to use water, toilets and shower facilities no longer be functioning. a quarter mile from where i'm standing is the world trade center site now under construction. on top of that is a construction crane. many people are concerned. heartache in the past. worried that mother nature might inflict more pain and anguish. back to you. >> bret: shot of that earlier. david, thank you. get an update now on hurricane sandy. meteorologist janice dean joins us again from new york. >> where david lee miller was,

9'6" storm surge. that overtops irene at 9.5. two hours until high tide. that is an interesting situation. water levels don't be on the rise. take a look at the center of circulation, on shore. probably around ocean city. southern tip of new jersey. around atlantic city. that is just a point of reference. we will feel effects of the storm, 500-miles from the center of the storm. it will move across the great lakes. wind advisories across the great lakes. wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. this storm is going to expand across the midwest. wind gusts in excess of

90 miles per hour. as the center moves on shore. north of the center, where you feel the north of the storm surge. rain and wind. 50 miles per hour gusts south of that region, 35 miles per hour gusts across the southeast. across the great lakes in the mid-atlantic. this is a storm surge and winds for long duration of time. carving a coastline in some cases, i'm afraid. and the weeks ahead. back to you. >> bret: thank you. what could be a big storm for long time. we look at how it relate together in all-stars join me after the break. a look at the capita capitol hil situation. rain falling an rain picking up. nobody is leer on capitol hill except us it seems. ♪

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i am not worried about the effect on the election. i'm worried about the impact on families and worried about the impact on the first responders. i worry about the economy and transportation. the election will take care of itself next week. >> on the eastern coast of our nation, a lot of people are enduring difficult times. our hearts and our prayer goes to him, as we think about how tough it will be there. >> president obama canceling a series of campaign events. there you see him in the oval office. you saw romney talk about efforts on the east coast.

jonah goldberg of national online editor of national review online. charles krauthammer. kirsten powers for the daily beast. >> he says he is not concerned about the impact on the election. i'm sure he is sincere about that. it's odd he shows up in briefing room when he hasn't for a month yeah on libya or anything else? you get a photo op of him in the situation room deploying the utility crews that will restore power all over america. >> while they were under attack in benghazi. it's hard to look at this playing the president or the commander in chief on a natural disaster. it's up to the governors mostly. white house and president release money.

he might be the beneficiary for attention is drawn away for three days. romney had momentum and slowed down and headin heading in his direction. not clear when the country wakes up in three days and restarts the attention on the campaign. that is an open question. >> bret: do you think that is true? it freezes the race to benefit obama? >> he can look presidential. he can go in briefing room and rise above the fray. romney can't attack him. nobody is talking about libya. >> bret: really, do we have to cross that today? [ laughter ] >> now they have an excuse. >> it's true. i think the other thing that

remains to be seen is where does the storm have an impact. is electricity out on election day? i hope it won't be. but if it is, northern virginia is an area. >> bret: virginia, pennsylvania, swing states that could be most effected. >> charles is too hard on obama. frankly -- >> bret: really? >> it's huge progress. he didn't blame this on a video. that alone is a big step forward. >> or on george bush. >> but that is out there on the internet. you can find that. this is a thing where i agree at the margins, president obama looking presidential. this is good for him. at the same time, hurricane are a better opportunity to make a mistake and hurt yourself than do lasting good.

freezing the campaign in place, i'm not sure is beneficial to obama. romney had legitimate momentu momentum. we may not get polling for a few days. it will suspend polls to create the panic needle park for people in this room. they won't get a cross tab fixed. that is an issue. >> we get a poll a second around here. >> the national gallup poll that we get once a month. romney is a slight lead here. you have ohio. the latest rasmussen report has romney ahead. the real clear has president obama with lead in ohio. there is another ohio poll out today that is a tie.

49. it seems like president obama and romney were tied according to many polls. obama people claim he had a lead in ohio. changed the dynamic on the ground. >> we now have a rasmussen poll, the first, i believe, of any of them to show romney ahead. the other sho they are tied. it's ted heat of a state romney had in his pocket a month ago. >> if you freeze race -- >> you freeze it to some extent. you leave five days instead of eight days. i'm not sure it's decisive. the polls tell us absent the hurricane, romney is a slow and steady tortoise in the race. be passing obama. he probably still does.

look at the national poll. you cannot, if gallup is anywhere near right. gallup has him up six. say he is up three. you can't win national election by three points and lose in the electoral college. this is uncon zeable. if you win in popular vote you lose electoral in the year 2000 the margin is fraction of fraction of fraction of 1% of one state if florida. the national polls they are disconnected, you can't have a disconnect that large between the national and electoral college. >> i find ohio numbers hard to believe. if it is tight, obama only needs to win by one point. there is dismisssiveness about what i'll say but it's true, the ground game is vastly superior romney has in

ohio, add a cupm of points to any poll. >> does this change it? >> the storm? no. i don't think so. in the situation, i think that you have to remember from the date obama got elected, obama for america has been building campaign targeted campaign. >> bret: thank you very much. next up, what the administration said, what it knew about the libya attack. look at delaware, windy and the waves picking up. we have big dreams. one is for a clean, domestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream.

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♪ ♪ >> bret: live shot of new york city. sixth avenue. nasty at rockefeller center, looking at radio city music

fall. they are finding fault with senior justice department officials, second of three reports from the house oversight committee darrell issa. they anytime five top executives for railing to identify red flags. the justice department characterizes the report as another attempt to politicize the matter with no regard for or command of the facts. says attorney general eric holder put a stop to tactics that began in 2006. instituted reforms to make sure they don't happen again. we are learning how soon officials had pinned it on terrorists. catherine herridge has specifics. >> fox news learned early as two days after the attack in benghazi on september 13, the f.b.i. and nctc, the nation hub for threat analysis briefed lawmachs that the evidence support that al-qaeda or al-qaeda affiliated attack.

this assessment was based on the intercepts that had individuals believed to have participated in the assault who were celebrating and claim of responsibility. f.b.i. and nctc briefed there was a series of al-qaeda training camps outside benghazi. the area was described as a hot bed for islamists. fox news told no emphasis on the video. but publicly, the next day the white house spokesman suggested terrorism was not part of the can cue lus. >> unrest is response to the video. we do not at this moment have information to suggest or tell you that, would indicate any of this unrest was preplanned. >> fox news told that on the same day, the briefing by c.i.a. director david petraeus to lawmakers appeared to conflict with that of the f.b.i. in nctc. congressional sources says petraeus was absolute in the description of the attack. it was characterized as more consistent with the flash mob. more militants showed up

spontaneously with rpgs. level of premedication. there is the skill needed to file mortars. >> there is inconsistencies in the intelligence. some information controverted what is told to congress and us so certain that this is what happened. >> a source quoting petraeus said i think in firm he explicitly stated to the house andnate oversight committees that the members of al-qaeda in north africa and ansar al-sharia participated in the attack, that assessment still stands. >> there was no immediate comment from the f.b.i. the spokesperson for the national counterterrorism center referred fox to september 28 statement that said the new intelligence showed it was not spontaneous, but deliberate and organized terrorist attack. bret? >> bret: thank you. we review the request for

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